SOURCES  FOR  A  HISTORY  OF  THE 
MEXICAN  WAR,  1846=1848 


BY 
JUSTIN  H.  vSMITH 


Reprinted  from  THE  MILITARY  HISTORIAN  &  ECONOMIST 
January,  1916,  Vol.  1,  pp.  18-32 


SOURCES  FOR  A  HISTORY  OF  THE    MEXICAN 
WAR,  1846-1848 

JUSTIN  H.  SMITH 

Our  war  of  1846-48  has  often  been  regarded  as  an  isolated 
event,  merely  an  episode  in  our  history;  and  to  a  considerable 
extent  so  it  was.  We  fought  and  we  made  conquests  of  value; 
but  neither  war  nor  conquest  was  an  essential  part  of  our 
national  policy.  We  can  lay  our  fingers  upon  the  causes  of 
the  war  one  by  one,  and  its  results  are  equally  within  com- 
pass. No  foreign  nation  became  involved,  nor  did  serious 
complications  of  any  sort  grow  out  of  the  affair.  In  short, 
it  was  much  like  a  small,  though  vigorous,  New  England 
thunderstorm,  made  up  of  local  currents  and  a  few  black, 
tufted  clouds,  which  overwhelms  some  valley  with  darkness, 
roar  and  flood,  yet  is  plainly  visible  in  its  entirety  from  the 
neighboring  mountain.  For  this  reason  the  subject  possesses 
a  rare  attractiveness  for  the  investigator,  so  often  baffled  or 
embarrassed  by  the  reach  of  his  vistas;  while  at  the  same 
time,  as  will  presently  appear,  certain  peculiar  subtleties  create 
a  special  interest  of  precisely  the  opposite  kind. 

However  limited  in  length  and  breadth,  the  war  had,  of 
course,  manifold  aspects,  and  the  fields  of  inquiry  that  must 
be  cultivated  are  equally  manifold.  On  the  diplomatic  side 
we  find  the  series  of  causal  events,  the  repeated  attempts  of 
our  government  to  end  hostilities,  and  the  final  armistice  and 
treaty, — a  treaty  rendered  supremely  difficult  and  almost  im- 
possible by  extraordinary  circumstances;  and  we  find  also 
broader  outlooks  resulting  from  the  Oregon  issue,  our  blockade 
of  Mexico's  ports,  her  privateering  schemes,  foreign  attempts 
to  interfere,  the  dream  of  combining  the  Spanish-American 
states  against  us,  and  the  plans  to  obtain  in  one  way  or  another 
European  assistance  for  Mexico.  The  subject  of  military  opera- 
tions includes  not  only  marches,  battles  and  sieges,  strategy 
and  tactics,  arms  and  ammunition,  camps  and  fortifications, 
but  roads,  bridges  and  transportation  in  a  country  widely 
different  from  our  own,  and  various  questions  connected  with 

[18] 


19  SOURCES  FOR  THE  MEXICAN  WAR,  1846-1848 

the  composition,  organization  and  training  of  the  armies.  The 
navy  of  the  United  States  had,  indeed,  no  antagonist  upon 
its  own  element,  but  it  was  compelled  to  undertake  important 
military  operations  and  assume  fiscal  and  political  functions, 
while  the  principal  work  in  its  proper  field— that  of  the  block- 
ade— was  made  especially  interesting  by  the  extent  of  the 
coast,  the  tempests,  bars  and  shoals,  and  the  character  of 
the  rivers.  These  last  facts  bring  us  in  turn  to  geography  and 
topography,  and  we  discover  much  here  that  requires  unusual 
attention. 

Physically  Mexico  is  an  astonishing  country,  and  it  pre- 
sented to  our  troops  very  sharp  and  varied  embarrassments: 
climates  changing  in  the  course  of  a  day's  march,  mountains, 
defiles,  deserts,  marshes,  lava-beds,  thorny  chaparral,  edible 
products  offering  nourishment  to  some  and  poison  to  others, 
tropical  storms  and  untropical  droughts,  animals  like  ours  in 
name  but  not  in  quality,  extraordinary  opportunities  for  self- 
indulgence  and  extraordinary  diseases.  In  the  realm  of  politics 
each  country  shows  us — in  1846-48,  of  course — its  parties  and 
partisans  engaged  in  cunning  and  often  unscrupulous  manoeu- 
vres, complicated  further  by  personal  and  sectional  ambitions; 
we  have  to  trace  out  the  mysterious  ways  of  legislators  and 
rulers;  and  we  are  also  confronted  with  the  problems  of  gov- 
erning a  conquered  population.  Akin  to  these  arise  social 
questions  of  a  subtle  and  profound  character.  The  Mexicans 
are  not  only  foreign  to  us  but  intrinsically  peculiar, — combin- 
ing the  Spaniard,  the  Moor  and  the  Indian,  and  including 
other  strains  also  here  and  there;  and  their  peculiarities  must 
be  seen  and  felt.  The  evolution  of  the  Mexican  world  of  1846 
needs  to  be  understood  and  its  characteristics  noted.  The 
attempts  to  make  the  war  a  conflict  of  race  and  religion;  the 
presence  of  many  Roman  Catholics  among  our  people  and  our 
troops;  the  existence  of  slavery  here  and  its  non-existence 
there;  and  the  effects  of  daily  intercourse  between  Americans 
and  Mexicans  during  our  occupation  of  extensive  districts,  must 
all  be  given  due  study;  and  moreover  under  this  head  it  should 
be  remembered  that  the  American  people  were  not  at  that 
date  precisely  what  they  are  now. 


JUSTIN  H.  SMITH  20 

Financially,  the  support  of  the  war  involved  singular  diffi- 
culties in  both  countries.  Mexico  had  to  fight  on  a  general 
basis  of  bankruptcy;  and  the  United  States  prepared  for  the 
extra  expense  by  adopting  a  low  tariff  and  experimenting  with 
other  important  fiscal  measures.  How  both  sides  got  on  as 
well  as  they  did  requires  to  be  ascertained.  The  personal 
characteristics  and  personal  relations  of  the  chief  actors  in 
the  drama  had, -of  course,  vital  bearings  on  the  events;  and, 
last  but  perhaps  not  least  in  this  partial  catalogue,  we  desire 
to  know  with  what  sentiments  the  progress  and  the  conse- 
quences of  our  operations  were  viewed  by  foreign  governments 
and  nations.  On  all  these  topics  information  is  available,  and 
we  may  now  take  up  the  sources  relating  to  each  of  them, 
dealing  first  with  the  manuscripts. 

Many  of  the  diplomatic  papers  referring  to  the  war  have 
been  published,  but  many  have  not;  and,  aside  from  the 
desirability  of  collating  the  former  with  the  originals,  in  not 
a  few  cases  highly  significant  portions  were  omitted  in  the 
printing.  One  has  recourse,  then,  to  the  archives  of  the 
State  Department,  and  must  obtain  access  "without  restric- 
tion" to  the  papers.  These  include  not  only  communications 
between  the  government  and  its  diplomatic  and  consular  rep- 
resentatives, but  the  instructions  to  and  letters  from  our  con- 
fidential agents,  notes  to  and  from  the  foreign  legations  at 
Washington,  Report  Books,  Confidential  Report  Books,  Do- 
mestic Letter  Books,  Miscellaneous  Letters  and  replies,  and 
the  circulars  issued  to  our  representatives  in  foreign  parts. 
The  countries  concerned  are  Mexico,  Great  Britain,  France, 
Spain  (including  Cuba),  and  the  Republic  of  Texas;  and  the 
period  to  be  covered  extends  from  the  beginning  of  the  inter- 
national relations  of  Mexico  to  1848  inclusively.1  Indexes 

1  Great  Britain,  having  immense  interests  in  Mexico  and  feeling  appre- 
hensive lest  the  United  States  should  gain  large  accessions  of  territory  at 
the  expense  of  our  neighbor,  was  profoundly  concerned  about  our  relations 
with  that  country.  In  France,  the  King  and  Guizot,  his  chief  minister,  felt 
strongly  disposed  to  oblige  England,  and  also  entertained  the  idea  of  ex- 
tending to  this  continent  the  balance-of-power  system  that  reigned  in  Europe, 
while  Thiers  and  others,  voicing  the  popular  sentiment,  were  cold  toward 
England,  friendly  toward  the  United  States  and  anxious  to  use  as  a  political 
weapon  the  tendency  of  the  government  to  concern  itself  in  a  pro-British 
manner  with  the  difficulties  between  this  country  and  Mexico.  Spain  and 


21  SOURCES  FOR  THE  MEXICAN  WAR,  1846-1848 

afford  some  assistance  but  do  not  mention  everything  of  im- 
portance. One  must  examine  the  papers  in  detail;  and  this 
rule  holds  good  in  every  other  collection  of  official  documents 
as  well, — in  many  instances,  indeed,  far  more  truly.  Some 
important  diplomatic  papers  are  outside  the  archives  of  the 
State  Department.  For  instance,  Mackenzie's  reports  on  his 
mission  to  Santa  Anna  in  1846  are  among  the  Polk  papers, 
now  belonging  to  the  Library  of  Congress;  and  the  personal 
papers  of  certain  American  diplomats  are  precious  supplements 
to  their  official  despatches.  Among  these  are  Poinsett's  (Penn- 
sylvania Historical  Society),  Bancroft's  (Massachusetts  His- 
torical Society),  Trist's  (Library  of  Congress),  Larkin's  (Ban- 
croft Collection,  University  of  California)  and  Wheaton's 
(Massachusetts  Historical  Society).  Mexico  also  has  published 
a  portion  of  her  diplomatic  correspondence  in  this  field,  but 
the  archives,  although  removals  and  damage  resulting  from 
the  political  vicissitudes  of  the  country  have  caused  numerous 
gaps,  afford  much  additional  information.  They  are  found 
naturally  in  charge  of  the  Department  of  Foreign  Relations 
(Secretaria  de  Relaciones  Exteriores). 

Here,  however,  the  inquiry  by  no  means  comes  to  an  end. 
From  1825  on,  Great  Britain  held  a  very  strong  position  in 
Mexico;  and  her  ministers  at  that  post  made  frequent  and 
full  reports.  Able,  comparatively  impartial,  close  to  the  heart 
of  things,  and  for  every  reason  anxious  to  ascertain  and  state 
the  truth,  they  give  us  the  best  "inside"  views  of  persons  and 
events  that  we  can  find;  and  they  not  only  had  a  great  deal  to 
say  about  our  relations  with  that  unfortunate  country,  but 
at  certain  critical  times  played  an  important  role  in  its  coun- 
sels. Besides,  England  exerted  herself  at  Washington,  at  Paris 
and  with  our  representatives  at  Mexico;  and  hence,  for  the 

the  Spanish  took  far  less  interest  in  the  matter,  though  hopes  were  enter- 
tained that  fear  of  the  United  States  might  draw  Mexico,  and  indeed  all 
the  Spanish-American  states,  toward  and  possibly  to  the  mother-country. 
They  felt  sympathy  for  the  Mexicans,  but  could  not  forget  that  Mexico  had 
rebelled.  Prussia  had  a  representative  in  Mexico  but  did  not  wish  to  become 
or  have  him  become,  involved  in  difficulties  there.  With  what  indifference 
she  held  aloof  may  be  ascertained  conveniently  from  the  Wheaton  papers 
(Massachusetts  Historical  Society).  The  countries  of  Central  and  South 
America  took  surprisingly  little  interest  in  the  war. 


JUSTIN  H.  SMITH  22 

best  of  reasons,  these  reports,  preserved  with  the  other  For- 
eign Office  Papers  at  the  Public  Record  Office,  London,  must 
be  thoroughly  studied. 

The  corresponding  French  documents  (kept  in  the  Archives 
du  DSpartement  des  Affaires  Etrang£res,  Paris)  are  much  less 
valuable,  for  the  agents  of  France  were  inferior  men,  their 
relations  with  the  Mexican  government — in  addition  to  suffer- 
ing from  quarrels  and  a  war — were  seldom  intimate,  and  the 
reports  for  1846-48,  being  in  the  same  volume  as  papers  not 
open  to  the  public,  cannot  be  seen;  but  on  several  matters, 
particularly  while  Poinsett  was  the  American  minister  at  that 
capital,  they  present  valuable  information.  Spain  did  not 
recognise  Mexico  until  1836,  and  for  a  long  time  after  that 
date  was  looked  upon  with  just  suspicion;  for  a  strong  mon- 
archical party  existed  in  Mexico,  leaning  naturally  toward  the 
mother-country,  and  she  not  only  entertained  hopes  but  made 
efforts  to  set  up  a  Bourbon  prince  in  her  one-time  colony; 
but  there  was  no  difference  of  sentiment  in  regard  to  the 
United  States  and  kinship  counted  for  much.  The  reports  of 
the  Spanish  legation,  therefore,  especially  since  it  had  charge 
for  a  considerable  time  of  French  interests  also,  cannot  be 
ignored.  Space  may  perhaps  be  taken  for  a  single  illustration 
of  this  fact.  Wonder  has  often  been  felt  that  Castillo  y  Lanzas, 
the  Mexican  Minister  of  Relations,  who  was  known  to  favor 
a  peaceful  settlement  with  this  country,  should  have  addressed 
the  hostile  and  insulting  note  of  March  12,  1846,  to  our  min- 
ister, Slidell, — the  last  important  communication  received  by 
us  from  his  government  before  the  outbreak  of  hostilities;  but 
it  appears  from  the  despatch  of  Senor  D.  Salvador  Bermudez 
de  Castro,  the  Spanish  minister,  No.  218  (Res.),  of  March  29, 
that  he  himself  put  order  and  iron  into  the  irresolute  and 
almost  incoherent  draft  of  Castillo,  and  that  he  did  so  with 
the  expectation,  not  of  a  war,  but  of  arbitration.  These  des- 
patches are  at  the  Archivo  Particular  del  Ministerio  de  Estado, 
Madrid.  As  regards  Cuba,  some  interesting  documents  may 
be  found  in  the  National  Archives  of  that  Republic.2 

2  The  author  extended  his  inquiries  to  Colombia  and  Peru,  but  with  only 
negative  results. 


23  SOURCES  FOR  THE  MEXICAN  WAR,  1846-1848 

Next  we  come  to  the  field  of  military  operations.  Although 
numerous  works  have  been  written  upon  the  Mexican  War, 
none  of  their  authors  has  gone  through  the  military  archives 
of  either  government,  but  it  does  not  by  any  means  follow 
that  the  archives  are  of  slight  significance.  To  be  sure,  a 
great  number  of  the  papers  were  made  public;  but  a  great 
number  were  not,  while  omissions  and  the  printer's  inaccu- 
racies impair  the  value  of  too  many  published  reports.8 
The  historian  must  go,  therefore,  to  the  War  Department  at 
Washington,  and  examine  one  by  one  the  following  papers, 
most  of  which  are  in  charge  of  the  Adjutant  General:  Secre- 
tary of  War's  files,  Adjutant  General's  files,  Military  Book, 
Adjutant  General's  Miscellany  (principally  Discontinued  Com- 
mands), General  Orders,  Order  Books,  Quartermaster  General's 
files,  Judge  Advocate  General's  files,  Records  of  Courts  Martial 
and  Courts  of  Inquiry,  and  Engineer's  files,  going  back  in 
certain  cases  as  far  as  the  early  part  of  1845.  The  number 
of  these  documents  is  large;  and  to  them  must  be  added  not 
only  the  records  and  archives  of  State  governments,  but  the 
papers  of  officials,  officers  and  soldiers  (especially  diaries), 
reposing  in  archives,  libraries,  the  vaults  of  historical  socie- 
ties and  the  closets  of  private  individuals  all  over  the  country. 
This  last  branch  of  the  investigation  is  naturally  most  slow 
and  tedious,  and  it  requires  the  kind  co-operation  of  many 
personal  and  professional  friends.4  Among  those  which  may 
be  discovered  are  unpublished  papers  of  such  men  as  Marcy, 
Taylor,  Conner,  Pillow,  Duncan,  Quitman,  Pierce,  Hitchcock, 
Jefferson  Davis,  Braxton  Bragg,  Robert  Anderson,  S.  E. 
Chamberlain,  P.  G.  T.  Beauregard,  D.  H.  Hill,  G.  B.  Mc- 
Clellan,  W.  B.  Campbell,  B.  S.  Roberts  and  W.  R.  Caswell. 
For  the  southwest,  particular  recourse  must  be  had  to  the 
Bancroft  Collection. 

3  See  a  brief  article  by  the  present  writer  in  the  American  Historical  Review 
of  October,  1915. 

4  The  present  writer  advertised  and  also  addressed  a  letter  to  every  Mexican 
War  survivor  with  a  view  to  learning  of  documents,  and  in  these  ways  ob- 
tained valuable  results. 


JUSTIN  H.  SMITH  24 

Still  more  numerous  are  the  Mexican  military  documents.5 
The  chief  body  of  these  exists  in  what  is  known  as  Fracci6n 
I.  of  the  War  Department  archives  (National  Palace,  Mex- 
ico), imperfectly  arranged  in  thick  bundles  called  Legajos  or 
else  piled  without  any  classification  at  all  in  a  heap  upstairs;6 
but  other  important  papers  are  in  charge  of  the  General 
Staff,  in  the  Archive  General  (particularly  the  proceedings  of 
many  courts  martial),  and  the  National  Library;  while  nearly 
all  of  the  maps  that  one  desires  to  see  belong  now  to  the 
Cartographical  Section  of  the  Fomento  Department.  The 
State  archives  also  are  to  be  consulted.  While  those  of  Puebla 
and  of  Vera  Cruz  (the  latter  kept  at  Jalapa)  seem  to  be  nearly 
or  perhaps  quite  complete,  others  have  suffered  more  or  less 
from  accident  and  revolution;  but  the  custom  of  sending  dup- 
licates of  official  communications  to  all  the  States  affords  a 
ground  for  believing  that  little  has  really  been  lost.  The  city 
archives,  especially  in  the  districts  entered  by  our  forces, 
must  likewise  be  searched.  In  all,  the  present  writer  probably 
examined  more  than  80,000  such  Mexican  documents  and 
found  some  8,000  of  them  valuable.  In  addition  to  the  Amer- 
ican and  Mexican  sources,  the  diplomatic  and  consular  reports 
of  the  British,  French  and  Spanish  agents  have  something  to 
say  regarding  the  military  operations. 

For  the  work  of  our  fleets  one  studies  the  archives  of  the 
Navy  Department, — particularly  the  Squadron  Letters,  Cap- 
tains' Letters  and  Confidential  Letter  Books.  In  Mexico  the 
navy  was  an  insignificant  concern,  and  its  affairs  were  con- 
trolled by  the  same  department  (Guerra  y  Manna)  as  those 
of  the  army.  Some  details  are  discovered  in  the  local  Mexican 
archives  also,  and  in  the  foreign  diplomatic  and  consular 
reports;  the  papers  of  the  British  Admiralty  Office,  preserved 
in  the  Public  Record  Office  at  London,  throw  light  upon  Cali- 

fiA  word  should  be  said  here  with  reference  to  the  broadmindedness  of 
President  Porfirio  Diaz,  without  whose  assistance  a  thorough  examination 
of  the  Mexican  papers  would  have  been  impossible.  When  assured  that 
the  results  of  the  investigation  would  be  stated  impartially,  he  promised 
me  all  the  aid  in  his  power.  This  meant  everything;  and  not  only  were  the 
national  archives  thrown  open,  but  I  was  able  to  travel  about  with  a  certifi- 
cate that  I  had  the  approbation  of  the  government,  which  gave  me  access 
to  State  and  city  archives  and  all  the  contents  of  the  public  libraries. 

6  The  arrangement  may  have  been  changed  since  my  visit, 


25  SOURCES  FOR  THE  MEXICAN  WAR,  1846-1848 

fornia  affairs,  the  capture  of  Vera  Cruz,  the  blockade  and  some 
other  matters;  and  in  the  National  Archives  at  Madrid  may 
be  found  correspondence  relating  to  the  blockade  and  to 
rumors  of  privateering  enterprises  in  Cuban  ports. 

On  both  sides,  the  political  aspects  of  the  war  are  remark- 
ably interesting.  With  reference  to  American  affairs  the  in- 
quirer should  examine  the  files  of  the  national  Senate  and 
House,  and  the  House  manuscripts  turned  over  to  the  Library 
of  Congress,  though — to  tell  the  truth— he  will  find  them 
disappointing.  The  reports  of  the  British  minister  at  Wash- 
ington, who  stood  in  close  relations  with  leading  Whigs,  afford 
a  good  deal  of  information  at  times;  and  still  more  can  be 
derived  from  the  papers  of  Jackson  (though  he  died  before 
the  war  actually  began),  Van  Buren,  Crittenden,  Hammond, 
Polk,  McLean,  Clay,  Fairfield,  Clayton,  Webster  and  Welles 
(all  of  which  are  accessible  at  the  Library  of  Congress),  Ban- 
croft (Massachusetts  Historical  Society),  Buchanan  (Penn- 
sylvania Historical  Society)  and  other  more  or  less  prominent 
politicians.  As  for  Mexico,  the  Department  of  Gobernacion 
(that  is  to  say,  Relaciones  Interiores)  has  many  documents 
relating  to  the  internal  affairs  of  the  country.  Among  them, 
for  instance,  is  a  full  official  account  of  the  meeting  of  the 
Governors  called  by  the  President  in  1847  to  discuss  the  ques- 
tion of  making  peace.  In  this  field  also  the  diplomatic  and 
consular  reports  already  several  times  mentioned  are  positively 
invaluable.  The  present  writer  was  permitted  to  examine  the 
papers — most  of  them  belonging  to  the  distinguished  historical 
author,  Senor  D.  Genaro  Garcia — of  such  persons  as  Santa 
Anna,  Paredes  and  Anaya;  and  still  others  exist  in  public 
libraries,  like  those  of  P6rez  de  Acal  at  Guadalajara.  On  the 
state  of  things  in  California  the  Bancroft  Collection  has  much 
to  give.  For  the  political  aspects  of  the  American  occupation 
the  reports  of  our  officers  and  the  local  Mexican  archives  are 
requisite.  On  the  social  and  financial  sides  of  the  war  much 
is  to  be  learned  from  the  political  sources  already  mentioned, 
but  these  topics  will  be  taken  up  more  fully  below.  For  the 
views  and  sentiments  entertained  abroad  one  examines  first 


JUSTIN  H.  SMITH  26 

of  all  the  diplomatic  correspondence,  and  then  one  supple- 
ments this  with  published  material. 

We  come  now  to  the  printed  sources,  which  it  is  obviously 
impossible  to  describe  adequately  within  the  limits  of  this 
article.  The  most  important  class  is  naturally  books,  and 
these — it  need  not  be  said — are  of  every  kind  and  every  degree 
of  merit.  At  the  head  stand  our  Congressional  publications,— 
the  President's  Messages,  the  proceedings  of  the  Legislative 
branch  and  the  Executive  Documents,  Reports  and  Miscellany 
of  the  Senate  and  House.  In  these  many  and  bulky  volumes 
one  finds  official,  though  not  for  that  reason  necessarily  cor- 
rect, data  upon  every  phase  of  the  conflict  with  Mexico.  The 
debates  of  Congress  were  almost  interminable  and  full  of  repe- 
tition, errors  and  unreason,  but  they  must  be  sifted,  and  they 
repay  the  trouble.  Not  less  important  are  such  biographies 
as  Colton's  Clay,  Coleman's  Crittenden,  Meade's  Meade  and 
even  Claiborne's  Quitman,  for  they  include  many  first-hand 
documents;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  we  cannot  collate 
these  with  the  originals.  On  the  same  plane  stand  volumes 
like  McCall's  Letters  From  the  Frontiers,  Sedgwick's  Correspon- 
dence, Buchanan's  Works  (edited  by  J.  B.  Moore),  and  Rami- 
rez' Mexico  durante  su  Guerra  con  los  Estados  Unidos.  Several 
histories  of  the  war  contain  similar  material,  and  a  few, 
though  based  upon  a  very  incomplete  knowledge  of  the 
sources,  were  composed  by  participants  and  therefore  to  a 
certain  extent  may  be  classed  as  themselves  first-hand. 
These,  however,  were  very  likely — like  Ripley's,  which  aimed 
to  exalt  Pillow  and  discredit  Scott,  or  Semmes's,  written  under 
the  magnetic  influence  of  Worth — to  be  tinctured  with  the 
personal  and  political  prejudices  and  passions  of  the  day,  and 
it  is  frequently  impossible  to  determine  where  the  author's 
observation  ended  and  hearsay  began.  On  the  Mexican  side 
there  are  numerous  volumes  of  Memorias,  official  reports  of 
the  executive  departments,  often  accompanied  with  documents, 
and  other  publications  issued  by  authority;  and  there  are 
numerous  biographies,  autobiographies  and  histories  of  more 
or  less  value.  Negrete's  Invasion  de  los  Norte- Americanos 
en  Mexico  contains  more  documents  than  any  other  work 


27  SOURCES  FOR  THE  MEXICAN  WAR,  1846-1848 

on  the  subject,  but  they  were  carelessly  printed.  The  book 
of  Roa  Barcena,  that  issued  by  fifteen  collaborators  under  the 
title  Apuntes  para  la  Historia  de  la  Guerra  entre  Mexico  y  los 
Estados-Unidos,  and  the  first-hand  narrative  of  Balbontfn  are 
of  much  worth. 

On  the  political  side  we  find  histories,  biographies  and 
special  studies  in  profusion,  and  while  many  are  generous 
with  mistakes  and  prejudices,  few  indeed  are  destitute  of 
value,  and  in  proportion  as  one  advances  in  his  mastery  of 
the  subject,  the  danger  of  using  them  diminishes.  On  strategy 
and  tactics  the  list  of  works  is  large,  but  those  recommended 
to  graduates  of  West  Point  by  a  board  of  officers,  in  addition 
to  some  of  later  dates,  Scott's  Tactics  the  knowledge  which 
a  competent  historian  would  naturally  possess,  that  derived 
from  the  Mexican  War  material  itself  and  that  obtained  by 
consulting  military  experts,  may  be  deemed  sufficient.  The 
forces  engaged  were  small  and  the  operations  comparatively 
simple.  Most  of  the  reports  were  prepared  for — and  many 
by — persons  but  slightly  versed  in  the  art  of  war,  and  nearly 
all  of  the  necessary  criticism  has  already  been  offered  by 
military  men.  Vattel's  Droit  des  Gens  embodies  the  ac- 
cepted international  law  of  the  period.  Books  of  travel  from 
Humboldt's  down,  with  maps,  geographical  treatises  and  mili- 
tary reports — particularly  those  of  the  American  engineers, 
many  of  which  are  still  in  manuscript  at  the  Engineer's  Office, 
War  Department,  Washington — give  an  excellent  if  not  ade- 
quate view  of  the  physical  features  of  the  country;  and  his- 
tories, biographies  and  books  of  travel,  supplemented  with 
the  American,  British,  French  and  Spanish  reports,  our  mili- 
tary accounts  of  the  occupation  and  incidental  points  in  other 
material,  present  an  abundance  of  data  out  of  which,  if  one 
be  properly  grounded  to  interpret  them,  the  necessary  social 
atmosphere  can  be  manufactured. 

With  books  go  pamphlets,  which  were  far  more  important 
in  Mexico  than  among  us,  and  contained  military  and  political 
facts  and  views  not  elsewhere  to  be  discovered.  Such  tran- 
sient publications,  which  fell  in  the  streets  of  Mexico  at  cer- 
tain crises  like  autumn  leaves,  perish  easily;  but  a  great  many 


JUSTIN  H.  SMITH  28 

have  found  safe  lodging  places  in  the  National  Library  and 
the  National  Museum  of  that  city,  in  municipal  libraries,  in 
the  Bancroft  Collection  and  in  private  hands.  The  list  of 
books  and  pamphlets  which  the  thorough  historian  would  feel 
bound  to  study  includes  about  1,000  or  1,100  titles  according 
to  one's  method  of  reckoning,  though  naturally  others  would 
be  examined. 

Pamphlets  bring  us  to  periodicals.  These  include  the  long 
list  of  magazines  published  in  all  the  countries  mentioned,  in 
which  many  first-hand  papers  and  not  a  few  interesting  facts 
and  ideas  are  presented;  but  the  only  periodicals  of  which 
it  is  necessary  to  speak  at  any  length  are  the  newspapers, 
Many  diplomatic,  military  and  naval  documents  of  an  offi- 
cial character  appeared  in  their  columns,  but  these  will 
have  been  discovered  elsewhere  in  a  more  authentic  form. 
Such  is  not  the  case,  however,  with  an  almost  endless  number 
of  unofficial  communications  from  the  army  and  the  navy. 
It  hardly  need  be  said  that  careless,  designing  and  boastful 
persons  walked  about  and  wrote  letters  two  generations  ago 
as  actively  as  now.  We  of  today  could  not  reasonably  hope 
to  enjoy  a  monopoly  of  such  news.  But  accounts  like  those 
contributed  to  the  New  Orleans  Picayune  by  its  travelling 
editors  or  its  correspondent  "  H."  (Haile),  those  in  the  Delta 
of  the  same  city  from  '  'Mustang"  (Freaner),  those  in  the 
New  York  Spirit  of  the  Times,  which  are  known  to  have  come 
from  Captain  Henry,  an  excellent  officer,  and  others  whose 
authors  are  found  to  have  been  careful  and  intelligent  men, 
are  entitled  to  a  fair  share  of  credence.  Robert  E.  Lee  was 
among  these  anonymous  writers.  On  political  and  social  ques- 
tions the  newspapers  must  be  considered  invaluable,  provided 
a  sufficient  number  of  them  are  compared.  The  leading  jour- 
nals in  the  United  States,  Mexico,  England  and  France  need 
to  be  examined  day  by  day  during  the  continuance  of  the 
war, — indeed,  for  some  time  before  and  after  it;  and  many 
others  must  be  read  at  certain  periods.7  All  sections,  parties 

7  For  the  United  States  the  two  most  important  journals  were  the  National 
Intelligencer  (Whig)  and  Union  (Democratic)  of  Washington,  and  these  may 
be  examined  at  the  Library  of  Congress.  The  Picayune  and  other  news- 
papers of  New  Orleans,  which  for  geographical  reasons  were  of  special  value, 


29  SOURCES  FOR  THE  MEXICAN  WAR,  1846-1848 

and  influential  shades  of  opinion  need  to  be  considered  in 
each  of  these  countries.  Financial  information,  too,  must  be 
sought  for  not  only  in  the  statements  of  ministers  of  the 
treasury  here  and  elsewhere  and  the  rather  slight  information 
given  by  histories  and  magazines  devoted  to  money,  banking 
and  finance,  but  in  the  daily  fluctuations  of  the  markets  and 
the  daily  comments  of  the  money  "article."  Summing  up, 
then,  the  documents  printed  and  in  manuscript,  and  including 
those  others  which  bear  upon  the  annexation  of  Texas8 — an 
integral  part  of  the  subject— one  must  admit  that  the  number 
is  rather  large. 

Our  final  category  of  sources  is  the  personal.  A  record  was 
imprinted  on  the  minds  of  participants  in  the  war,  and  this 
also  is  worthy  of  attention.  During  the  past  ten  years  the 
present  writer  has  talked  with  not  a  few  of  the  veterans, 
both  American  and  Mexican.  Testimony  relating  to  events 
of  so  distant  a  period  should,  of  course,  be  viewed  with  a  most 
critical  eye.  As  a  rule  it  is  without  historical  value.  Some 
men  forget  what  occurred,  and  others  recollect  admirably  what 
did  not  occur.  But  occasionally  a  veteran's  mind  is  perfectly 
clear  in  reference  to  events  that  impressed  themselves  upon 
it  with  peculiar  distinctness  and  have  frequently  been  re- 
called to  his  memory,  and  here  and  there  he  can  fill  a  gap  in 
harmony  with  all  the  documents.  This  class  of  sources  is 
now,  however,  ceasing  rapidly  to  exist. 

are  conveniently  accessible  at  the  City  Hall  of  that  place.  Other  leading 
sheets,  most  of  which  are  in  the  Library  of  Congress,  were  the  Atlas,  and 
Courier  of  Boston,  the  Evening  Post,  Courier  and  Enquirer,  Herald,  Tribune, 
Sun  and  Courier  des  Etats  Unis  of  New  York,  the  Ledger  and  North  American 
of  Philadelphia,  the  Sun  and  American  of  Baltimore,  the  Enquirer  of  Rich- 
mond, the  Courier  and  Mercury  of  Charleston;  but  the  number  that  must 
be  consulted  is  much  greater.  At  Mexico  the  best  C9llection  is  in  the  library 
of  the  Hacienda  (Treasury)  Department.  The  principal  papers  were  the 
official  Diario,  El  Siglo  XIX.,  El  Republicano,  and  El  Monitor  Republicano, 
but  the  total  number  worth  more  or  less  study  was  legion.  Those  published 
near  the  fields  of  operations  naturally  contained  much  interesting  news. 
The  most  important  English  journal  (British  Museum)  was  the  Times,  but 
the  Morning  Chronicle,  Morning  Post,  Morning  Herald,  and  several  others 
represented  influential  constituencies.  At  Paris,  (Biblioteque  Nationale)  the 
Journal  des  D6bats,  Le  Constitutionnel,  Le  National,  L'  Epoque  and  others 
were  noteworthy.  For  Spain  El  Heraldo  is  enough.  The  periodicals  that 
can  be  used  more  or  less  extensively  with  substantial  profit  number  about  400. 
8  See  the  "Account  of  the  Sources,"  pp.  471-76  of  a  book  on  this  topic 
by  the  author  of  the  present  article. 


JUSTIN  H.  SMITH  30 

Yet  there  is — to  conclude  our  cursory  survey  of  the  field — 
a  personal  source  free  from  the  defects  just  suggested.  To 
avoid  both  inadequacy  and  exaggeration  one  should  see  Raton 
Mountain,  Santa  Fe,  Monterey  Harbor,  San  Pedro,  San  Diego. 
Still  more  is  it  necessary  to  inspect  the  almost  vertical  steeps 
climbed  by  Taylor's  men  at  the  "Bishop's  Palace"  of  Mon- 
terey, the  sand-hills  at  Vera  Cruz,  the  heights  and  gorges  of 
Cerro  Gordo,  the  ravines  threaded  in  darkness  and  storm  at 
Contreras  and  the  rocky  fastness  of  Chapultepec.  Hardly 
less  important  is  a  realization  of  the  scenes  through  which 
our  troops  passed  on  their  marches.  Here,  for  example,  in 
the  vicinity  of  Cordoba  and  Jalapa  they  find  themselves  gazing 
at  almost  sheer  walls  clothed  with  a  perfect  Eden  of  tropical 
vegetation;  arcades  of  verdure  on  the  walls,  castles  of  verdure 
on  the  arcades,  palaces  of  verdure  on  the  castles,  and  cathe- 
drals of  verdure  on  the  palaces;  verdure  everywhere,  not  only 
builded,  but  flowing,  dripping,  tumbling,  spurting,  in  every 
hue  and  shade  of  living  green;  torrents  and  floods  of  green; 
billows  and  surf  of  green;  leaves  as  broad  as  a  man,  leaves  as 
thin  as  a  needle;  leaves  bursting  with  venom,  leaves  that  shoot 
in  a  fierce  green  jet  like  the  copper  flame  of  a  blowpipe;  with 
here  and  there  a  silver  cascade  sparkling  down  the  mountain 
side,  and  now  and  then  drifting  perfumes  that  make  the  trav- 
eller quite  forget  his  eyes;  and  with  birds  in  green,  blue,  scarlet 
and  yellow,  birds  like  dark  opals,  birds  that  flash  by  like  a 
musical  bullet,  singing  birds,  talking  birds.  That  such  things 
helped  the  soldiers  to  bear  their  hardships  and  stimulated 
them  to  fresh  exertions  goes  without  saying.  Their  diaries 
and  letters  confirm  this  opinion,  and  a  remark  of  General 
Scott  himself  illuminates  it,  for  he  said  with  reference  to  the 
noble  view  of  Mexico  city,  first  seen  by  our  army  as  it  came 
over  the  mountains  from  Puebla,  "Recovering  from  the  sub- 
lime trance,  probably  not  a  man  in  the  column  failed  to  say 
to  his  neighbor  or  himself:  That  splendid  city  shall  be -ours."  » 

Far  more  needful,  however,  is  a  personal  acquaintance  with 
the  people  of  Mexico,  for  out  of  their  psychology  grew  mainly 
the  causes,  the  course  and  the  results  of  the  war,  and  it  stands 

9  Memoirs,  II,  467. 


31  SOURCES  FOR  THE  MEXICAN  WAR,  1846-1848 

much  apart  from  our  own.  One  has  to  learn  how  near  to  the 
pride  and  honor  of  the  Castilian  grandee  can  dwell  the  duplicity, 
vanity  and  vulgarity  of  the  most  inferior  minds.  One  has  to 
discover  how  much  more  effective  a  soft,  elusive  cleverness 
can  sometimes  be  than  our  own  sharp  and  forceful  smartness. 
The  Indian,  sombre  and  rich  in  hidden  fire  like  the  flint,  who 
was  our  principal  antagonist  in  the  field,  repays  attention. 
A  dinner  party  of  gentlemen,  all  friends,  becoming  so  intox- 
icated with  the  swift,  sonorous  accents  of  their  knightly  tongue 
that  rapiers  appear  likely  to  be  the  next  course  is  highly 
instructive;  and  the  daintily  slippered  ladies,  with  teeth  whiter 
than  milk  and  soft,  black  eyes,  so  deep  and  languid,  explain 
a  great  deal  in  Mexican  character  and  history.  The  reader, 
to  be  sure,  will  have  to  accept  the  results  of  such  observations 
on  faith;  but  a  second-hand  impression  is  very  different  indeed 
from  one  at  third  hand,  and  a  true  interpretation  of  the  facts 
differs  yet  more  from  a  false  interpretation. 

Naturally  the  question  will  present  itself  whether  so  extended 
an  investigation  as  that  outlined  above  is  worth  while.  It  will 
be  suspected  that  beyond  a  certain  line  only  minute  points 
remain  to  be  discovered;  and  undoubtedly  one  does  reach  a 
place,  far  short  of  the  end,  where  the  percentage  of  important 
new  material  begins  to  be  low.  Some  of  the  most  valuable 
is,  however,  still  before  the  searcher,  and  it  should  not  be 
forgotten  that  omitting  a  vital  point  is  worse  than  a  vital 
error,  because  less  readily  detected.  There  are,  too,  a  number 
of  other  good  reasons  for  continuing  to  delve.  Small  data  fre- 
quently prove  to  be  the  keystones  of  arches  or  missiles  that 
lay  low  quite  pretentious  tales.  Cumulative  evidence,  made 
up  of  individually  slight  facts,  is  often  most  significant,— 
confirming,  supplementing  or  refuting  many  points  in  the 
major  documents.  Numerous  errors  exist  in  statements  com- 
ing from  the  best  accredited  sources;3  and  there  are  singular 
omissions,  which  only  the  most  persistent  inquiry  enables  the 
historian  to  supply.  Again,  one  is  often  saved  by  minute 
investigation  from  natural  but  unsound  inferences.  An  ex- 
cellent historical  scholar  has  declared  that  when  Santa  Anna 
returned  to  Mexico  in  August,  1846,  he  was  received  at  Vera 


JUSTIN  H.  SMITH  32 

Cruz  "as  a  hero."  Since  the  nation — to  speak  broadly — was 
looking  to  the  General  as  its  champion  against  the  United 
States,  this  appeared  to  be  a  safe  statement.  But  in  point 
of  fact  the  Council  (Ayuntamiento)  of  that  city  had  just 
refused  to  support  the  movement  in  his  favor;  even  his  young 
and  pretty  wife,  pouting  with  chagrin  at  the  coldness  of  his 
reception,  was  unable  to  excite  any  enthusiasm  for  him;  and 
a  tinman,  speaking  in  the  name  of  the  people,  lectured  him 
soundly  in  public  on  his  past  misdeeds.10  Besides,  even  if 
the  investigator  examine  a  mass  of  material  without  unearth- 
ing a  single  nugget,  he  and  his  readers  can  feel  so  much  more 
confident  that  his  conclusions  are  not  likely  to  be  upset  by 
future  discoveries.  And,  finally,  it  is  in  this  way  only  that 
both  he  and  they  can  acquire  that  sense  of  approximate  com- 
pleteness, which  was  noted  in  the  first  place  as  a  particular 
attraction  of  the  subject. 

10  Ayuntamiento  to  Landero  and  Perez,  Aug.  1,  1846:  Vera  Cruz  archives. 
Ruxton,  Adventures,  17,  18.  Tribute  d  la  Verdad,  14.  Comandante  of  Vera 
Cruz  to  Guerra  y  Marina,  Aug.  22,  1846:  Archives  of  G.  y  M.,  Mexico. 

JUSTIN  H.  SMITH 


Makers 


